Related resources for this article

Introduction

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The word population comes from the Latin populus, meaning “the people.” It is used to refer to a group of people living in a particular area, such as a city, country, continent, or the world. Few aspects of human societies are as fundamental as the size, composition, and rate of change of their populations. Such factors affect economic well-being, health, education, family structure, crime patterns, language, and culture—virtually every aspect of human society. The study of human populations is called demography.

Population Distribution

The world population is distributed unevenly around the globe. Sixty percent of the world’s people in 2013 lived in Asia. Africa had 15.5 percent of the total, followed by Europe with 10.4 percent. South America, Central America, and the Caribbean together had 8.6 percent. Five percent of the world’s people lived in North America. The final 0.5 percent lived in Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand).

Another way to think about global population distribution is in terms of development regions. Countries are grouped into these broad regions based on their level of economic development. The more economically developed countries (or MEDCs) include the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and all of Europe. They are also called “more developed” or simply “developed” countries. The less economically developed countries (or LEDCs) include those of Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand). They are also called “less developed” or simply “developing” countries. In 2013 some 83 percent of the world’s people lived in less developed countries. Two developing Asian countries, China and India, accounted for 37 percent of the total world population.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Population density is a measure of population in relation to land area. It is expressed as the number of people per square mile or square kilometer. In 2012 the most densely populated continent by far was Asia, with an average of 343 people per square mile (132 per square kilometer). Next was Africa, with 92 people per square mile (35 per square kilometer). The most sparsely populated continent was Australia, with only 7 people per square mile (3 per square kilometer). Within continents, there are often significant differences in density from region to region and from country to country. South Asia, for example, had an average density of 836 people per square mile (323 per square kilometer) in 2012, compared to an average of 94 per square mile (37 per square kilometer) in Southwest Asia.

Components of Population Change

Populations change continually as a result of gains and losses. The most basic components of population change are births and deaths. By convention, the birth rate of a population is the annual number of births per 1,000 inhabitants; the death rate (or mortality rate) is the annual number of deaths per 1,000 inhabitants. The difference between these two rates is the rate of natural increase (or decrease, if deaths exceed births). The rate of natural increase is a net result of fertility trends, health conditions, and variations in the age composition of the population.

In most cases the populations of countries, regions, continents, and cities are affected not only by births and deaths but also by migration. The rate of natural increase combined with the effects of migration provides another measure, the rate of population growth. A high rate of natural increase can be offset by a large out-migration, and a low rate of natural increase can be countered by a large in-migration. Generally speaking, however, these migration effects on population growth rates are far smaller than the effects of changes in birth and death rates.

Population Composition

Demographers study many aspects of population in addition to size and growth rate. They are also interested in the composition of the population in terms of such characteristics as age, sex, ethnic or racial category, and residential status (urban or rural).

Perhaps the most fundamental of these characteristics is the age distribution of a population. Age distributions differ among countries mainly because of differences in the levels and trends of fertility. A population with persistently high fertility, for instance, has a large proportion of children and a small proportion of aged people. A population in which fertility has been low for a long time has a smaller proportion of children and a larger proportion of aged people. Age distributions have also been affected by migrations, war losses, and differences in mortality, but these effects are generally less important than the influence of changes in fertility.

A second important characteristic of a population is the relative numbers of males and females who compose it. Generally, slightly more males are born than females (a typical ratio would be 105 or 106 males for every 100 females). On the other hand, it is quite common for males—for apparently biological reasons—to experience a higher death rate at virtually all ages after birth. Taken together, these general rules mean that during childhood males outnumber females of the same age, at some point in adulthood the numbers of males and females become equal, and at higher ages the number of females becomes disproportionately large. For example, among Europeans age 70 or older in 2010, the number of males for every 100 females was only about 61. Such discrepancies between the sexes within a population can affect marriage patterns and the birth rate.

The countries of the world vary greatly in their diversity of ethnicity or race. Such divisions in populations often are regarded as socially important, and statistics by race and ethnic group are therefore commonly available. The categories used for such groups differ from country to country, however. For this reason, international comparisons of ethnic and racial groups are imprecise, and this component of population structure is far less objective as a measure than are the categories of age and sex.

The division between rural and urban areas is another important characteristic of a population. For many decades there has been a nearly universal flow of populations from rural to urban areas. In 2011 about 52 percent of the world’s people lived in urban areas, but there were significant differences from country to country based on the level of development. In the more developed regions, about 78 percent of the population was classified as urban, compared to only 47 percent in less developed regions. However, urban populations are growing much faster in developing countries than they did in the past in developed countries—particularly in large cities. Of the 10 most populous urban agglomerations in 2011, 8 were in developing countries (Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata in India; Shanghai and Beijing in China; Mexico City in Mexico; São Paulo in Brazil; and Dhaka in Bangladesh).

World Population Trends

Growth

Most of the growth in the world population has taken place in the modern era. The time required for the world population to reach its first billion stretched through all of human prehistory into the early 1800s. The second billion was added by 1930, and the 3-billion mark was reached by 1960. The fourth, fifth, and sixth billions were added by 1974, 1990, and 1999. The seven-billion population milestone was reached in 2011.

The primary cause of this tremendous spurt in population growth was the drop in death rates. During the 19th century death rates began to fall in Europe, Canada, and the United States as industrialization triggered improvements in health and living conditions and as newly developed agricultural and transportation methods helped to increase food supplies. Late in the 19th century birth rates also began to fall in these areas of the world, and population growth slowed. Meanwhile, death rates and birth rates remained high in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Medical and public-health technologies introduced after World War II reduced death rates in Asia and Latin America. Because these declines were not accompanied by declines in birth rates, these geographic areas experienced population growth that reached rates far higher than any previously experienced in Europe. The greatest population growth rates were reached in Latin America and in Asia during the mid- to late 1960s. In the 25 years between 1950 and 1975, the population of Mexico increased from 27,000,000 to 60,000,000; Iran from 14,000,000 to 33,000,000; Brazil from 53,000,000 to 108,000,000; and China from 554,000,000 to 933,000,000.

This “population explosion” in the developing world pushed the rate of world population growth to a peak of 2.07 percent annually between 1965 and 1970. The growth rate has been declining since then, mostly because of falling birth rates in developing countries—particularly in China. By 2005–10 the growth rate of the world population had dropped to 1.20 percent annually. Because birth rates have declined at different rates in different regions, however, the rate of population growth also varies from place to place. The annual growth rate in more developed regions during 2005–10 was 0.42 percent; the rate in less developed countries was 1.37 percent, more than three times higher. The fastest-growing part of the world is Africa, which experienced an average growth rate of 2.55 percent between 1980 and 2013. The slowest-growing region is Europe, with an annual growth rate of only 0.2 percent over the same period.

Demographers project that almost all of the growth in the world population up to the end of the 21st century will take place in developing countries. In the period 2045–50, only 15 countries are projected to account for 75 percent of world population growth; all except one (the United States) are less developed countries of Africa and Asia. Even as population growth in Asia is projected to fall in the second half of the 21st century, growth in Africa is expected to accelerate because of continued high birth rates. Overall, the proportion of the world population living in developing countries is projected to increase from 83 percent in 2013 to 88 percent in 2100. This trend will continue to place tremendous pressures on developing countries, which have difficulty feeding, educating, and providing health care and jobs for the people they already have.

Aging

The general declines in birth and death rates have led to the rapid aging of the world population as a whole. The percentage of the world population age 60 and older increased from 8 percent in 1950 to 12 percent in 2013. The aging of the population is particularly advanced in the more developed countries, where the number of people age 60 or older has already surpassed the number of children under age 15.

Less developed countries where birth rates remain high have much greater proportions of children than do developed countries. In most African countries children under 15 make up more than 40 percent of the population, compared to 18 percent in the United Kingdom and just 14 percent in Italy—two European examples. Many of the resources of developing countries must be used to educate and care for dependent children, making less available for economic development that could provide jobs for them when they are older. In developed countries with aging populations—such as Italy, with 27 percent of its people age 60 and above—an increasing share of resources goes to support the aged.

Infant Mortality

A good indicator of a country’s health status is its infant mortality rate—the number of deaths of children under age 1 per 1,000 live births in a year. The average rate in less developed regions in 2005–10 was 46—about 8 times the average of 6 in more developed regions. The rates are highest in Africa, led by Central Africa at 106. Nevertheless, developing countries have seen substantial declines in infant mortality as a result of improved sanitation and nutrition, increased access to modern health care, and improved birth spacing through the use of contraception.

In 2005–10 Iceland’s infant mortality rate was the lowest in the world at 2.0 deaths per 1,000 births, followed by Singapore’s at 2.2. Surprisingly, the infant mortality rate of 6.9 in the United States, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, was higher than that of 39 other countries; this was largely because of high rates in poverty-stricken areas in the U.S.

Life Expectancy

The infant mortality rate has a strong bearing on life expectancy at birth, or the average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to live if conditions remain as they are. In the Middle Ages, when infant mortality rates were probably well above 200 per 1,000 births, life expectancy was 30 years or less. By 2005–10 life expectancy had reached 69 years for the world as a whole, up from 47 percent in 1950–55. The average life expectancy in more developed regions stood at 77, compared to 67 in the developing world. Japan had the world’s highest life expectancy at 83 years, followed by Switzerland, Australia, and Italy at 82 years. The average was about 78 years in the United States.

The countries with the lowest life expectancies are concentrated in Africa, where the regional average age in 2005–10 was just 56 years. Beginning in the late 1980s, the life expectancies of some African countries began to fall because of the AIDS epidemic. In Southern Africa, where the disease hit hardest, life expectancy fell from 62 years in 1990–95 to 52 years in 2005–10 before beginning to stabilize.

For reasons that are not well understood, life expectancy in almost all countries is higher for women than it is for men. Life expectancy for a girl born in France between 2005 and 2010 was about 84 years, seven years more than the 77 years for baby boys. The gap is narrower in many developing countries of Africa and Asia. In Kenya, for example, life expectancy in 2005–10 was about 58 for women and 56 for men.

Trends in the United States

In 1790, when the first census was taken, the population of the United States was 3.9 million. Before the American Civil War (1861–65), the U.S. population increased by about one-third every 10 years. Between 1860 and 1940 the trend was toward a gradual slowing of growth, caused by a decrease in the birth rate and by restricted immigration after 1921. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the population growth rate fell to a low of 7.3 percent. A postwar baby boom, which peaked in 1957, helped boost growth to 14.5 percent between 1940 and 1950 and to 18.5 percent between 1950 and 1960. The increase then dropped to 13.4 percent in the 1960s, 11.4 percent in the 1970s, and 9.8 percent in the 1980s. The growth rate surged to 13.1 percent in the 1990s, which was a period of broad economic prosperity. Between 2000 and 2010 the growth rate fell to 9.7 percent. Demographers project that the U.S. population growth rate will continue to fall steadily throughout the 21st century.

As in other countries, population in the United States is influenced by birth rates, death rates, and migration. The birth rate has fluctuated over the decades, with the changes often corresponding to the health of the national economy. The birth rate stood at 30.1 per 1,000 people in 1910, fell to below 19 in the Great Depression years of the 1930s, rose to 25 in the 1950s during the baby boom, and fell again to a then-record low birth rate of below 15 in the mid-1970s. Despite further fluctuations since then, including an unexpected rise in the early 1990s, demographers expect the rate to fall from the 2005–10 level of 14 percent. In contrast, the death rate is projected to rise in the mid-21st century as baby boomers reach advanced ages. In the same period, natural increase (birth rate minus death rate) is expected to be surpassed by international migration as the leading source of population growth in the United States. The United States is the world’s top destination for immigrants.

The United States is part of the world trend of aging populations, with an increasing proportion of its people in the middle- and upper-age brackets. At the beginning of the 20th century, 34 percent of the population was under age 15. By 2010 less than 20 percent of the U.S. population were children under 15. The median age—the age at which half of the population is younger and half is older—rose from 30 in 1950 to 37 in 2010. The number of retired people has increased at a faster rate than the number of so-called productive workers (aged 18 to 64) and will increase still faster as more members of the baby-boom generation—people born between 1946 and 1964—reach retirement age. This means that workers will have to be increasingly productive to supply goods and services to the aged. At the same time they may have to pay relatively more in taxes to provide pensions for retirees and medical care for the aged who are ill.

In addition to the aging of the U.S. population, great shifts have occurred in internal migration and settlement. For decades the American people have been moving away from the Northeast and Midwest and to the South and West. Between 2000 and 2010 the South and West grew at rates of 14.3 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, compared to population growth rates of 3.9 percent for the Midwest and 3.2 percent for the South. The fastest-growing U.S. states during that decade were Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, and Texas. The U.S. population also continues to shift from the country to the city. Just 5 percent of the population lived in urban areas in 1790; the figure grew to 64 percent by 1950 and to 82 percent by 2010. Since 1920, in most larger American cities, the rate of population growth has been much greater in surrounding suburban communities than within cities themselves.

Want to see it in action?

Start a free trial

E-mail

To

From

Sender NamePlease enter your name.

Sender EmailPlease enter a valid email address.

Translate this page

Choose a language from the menu above to view a computer-translated version of this page. Please note: Text within images is not translated, some features may not work properly after translation, and the translation may not accurately convey the intended meaning. Britannica does not review the converted text.

After translating an article, all tools except font up/font down will be disabled. To re-enable the tools or to convert back to English, click "view original" on the Google Translate toolbar.